Blogging has brought a new dimension to my life where I can pen my thoughts, pent up feelings, fear, pain without any fear of remorse; where I am, at times, alone but Never Really alone in blogsphere. A place that I can almost call, "Home" where I can just blog away about anything that touches my heart strings. However do remember the recipes I upload are what I have learnt and the notes are my personal notes and the remarks are my own opinion.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Devil Curry

Devil Curry is quintessentially a Eurasian dish and 9/10 you will find this served on Christmas or any other celebration in Eurasian households & most Eurasians, like yours truly, will say that their mum, grandmother or aunt makes the best Devil Curry.

For me, my aunt makes the best!!! Normally when we cook any kind of curries, it needs a day in the fridge before the taste kicks in so I was very surprised when my aunt made this for me; it tasted good on the day of cooking itself and I resolved that I was going to learn from her and learn from her, I did.

Armed with my note book & pencil, I asked her what she used & as she, rattled away, I wrote them down and for her there was no actual measurement; just this & that; etc. etc. but me when I cooked it; I religiously measured what I put in, according to her, of course. I have always been one who aimed for consistency, not only in baking but also in my cooking. I wanted to be able to reproduce a dish at the drop of a hat and haha, to block out murmurings from hub & children "It tasted better the last time you made it!!!" Prior to learning from her, I did not really enjoy the Devil Curry I made as I found that it lacked something but, really, couldnt put my finger to the elusive thing. From her, I learnt the secret to her Devil Curry; was to cook it for about 40 - 60 minutes on real slow, slow fire so that the juice from the chicken will emit into the gravy & till the potatoes are cooked & she used S&W Distilled Vinegar. No wonder when I cooked b4 I used the local vinegar; so this time round when I cooked it about a month ago, I bought the Heinz brand as I couldnt find the S&W brand then & I was able to gauge the actual difference. Thank you Aunty Lily for this awesome curry and I shall knight you "The Devil Curry Queen". So this is what I came up with. Ophelia.

Add *sufficient water [slightly lower than the level of the meat & potatoes] bring it to a Boil, stirring intermittenly.

Once boiling Reduce fire to the lowest & let it simmer for 40 - 60 minutes; stirring intermittenly so that it doesnt get burnt at the bottom, till potatoes & meat cooked. Half way through add sufficient salt, Ajinomoto OR Sugar.

After 40 minutes check whether Potatoes are soft. If both are cooked, add the Distilled Vinegar, stir & cook for 5 minutes still on low fire in order for the vinegar to incorporate. Check for taste. [*If you feel that curry is too thick for you, add some water, bring to boil & Check for taste, adjust if necessary]

Notes:-

a) I didnt take the seeds out of the Chilli Padi;

b) *Mustard seeds - when you fry Mustard seeds the oil Must NOT be too hot as they get burnt easily. Once it starts jumping around, add in the blended ingredients;

c) *Water should not be the same level of the meat & potatoes. This curry should be quite thick as in the picture above. Thus if you find that the curry is too thick, it gives you room to adjust & add some water & some seasoning. For me, I love when the curry is quite thick.

d) *Oil for frying the blended ingredients should BE quite alot. My mother-in-law, a great Peranak cook, used to tell me that when you fry any rempah ie the blended ingredients, there should be sufficient oil otherwise it wouldnt be so fragrant and if you want, you may scoop out the oil after it has been cooked.

e) Finally if you see the pictures at the bottom, dont be surprised that you can see two sets of rempah; different from what is written in my method. The method above is as per my aunt's recipe. Follow that if you like. In the cooking aspect, I wanted to follow what my Chef used to teach us i.e. Blend ingredients "A" first then scoop it out then blend ingredient "B". Then fry "A" first till fragrant then add in "B" fry till fragrant then followed by Steps 3 - 6. My Chef who excels in Thai cooking as his sister in law is a Thai, taught us whenever we fry rempah, to blend "A" & "B" separately then fry "A" first till fragrant then "B". Although it may entail a bit more work, I do believe it raises the bar AND needless to say I always follow his method as I feel that it gives "A" which has the Belacan in it, a better chance to be more fragrant as it is not over powered by the Chilli portion.

About Me

Welcome to my blog. Thanks for visiting me. Hope you enjoyed reading and will appreciate any comments from you.I have, Always, been consumed by a burning desire to be an icon first, in baking and then cooking as I always believe that food is the glue that keeps the family together. It was good that I started learning baking more than 20 years ago to destress for now after retiring more than 6 years ago I am able to go full time in doing what I love best; baking and selling my cakes. Anybody can learn how to bake but genuine interest has to come from the heart and if you want your cakes or food to taste good, You have to bake/cook from the heart.